


Moving On

by MarsDragon



Category: SC2VN
Genre: Female Mach, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-20
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-21 05:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10679091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsDragon/pseuds/MarsDragon
Summary: Because you can't play eSports forever, and what are you going to do after that?





	Moving On

I put away the last cans of energy drinks and stretch, hearing my back pop and crack. Restocking: complete. I stow the empty boxes and give Go-Mart a quick once-over, deciding the floors are clean enough for tonight. With nothing else to do, I sit down behind the counter and drag out my hanzi workbook. There's nothing I want to do less than stare at hundreds of Chinese characters that all look alike, but the very idea of slacking off makes the image of a furious Jett rise up behind my eyelids and that's no good for my heart.

It's funny. I haven't seen Jett for three years, but she's still the one I think of whenever I need motivation. Mr. Yeon's too laid-back to push me directly, so I have to push myself to study, all on my own.

...fuck. That's probably why he doesn't push me, isn't it? Teach me to recognize what's wrong on my own, so I have to fix it on my own. He's big into that. 

I shouldn't complain. Mr Yeon's been more than good to me. After I blew out my wrist a year into my professional Starcraft career - if you can call a year-long string of losses, fixed matches, and mediocrity a 'career' - I thought I'd have to swallow my pride and head back to the States to pick up what remained of my life after I blew all my savings in Korea. Health care's cheaper here, but wrist surgery's expensive no matter where you are. But Mr. Yeon listened to my tale of woe, nodded, and said I could work at Go-Mart since he was 'getting too old' and 'needed a pair of young hands around the place'.

It's bullshit. He's in better shape than I am. Does tai chi every day and could probably kick my ass. 

So Mr Yeon took me in, even let me move into the little set of apartments over the shop. I sleep on the floor, but hey, I did that at the team house too. And Mr Yeon has a much better idea of how to cook than Stunt or Accel. After so years in Korea I'm finally starting to appreciate Korean food. He's teaching me Mandarin and Russian too, said since I picked up Korean on my own I should try learning some useful languages. If I get good enough, he's got some sort of connections that might get me a good job back in the States, though he's vague on what it would be. Whenever I ask about the job or the connections or how he knows Mandarin and Russian in the first place he laughs and says it's probably still classified.

The scary part is that I don't think he's joking.

So that's my life now. I work at Go-Mart for minimum wage plus room and board, then study in my downtime. Turns out I actually like languages. It's not quite the same as microing my marines while mining and expanding my base, but it's a lot less likely to leave me crippled for life. 

The bell on the door rings. "Hello, and welcome to Go-Mart!" is out of my mouth on sheer Pavlovian reaction, before I even register who's there. 

It takes me a minute to recognize Accel, out of his customary jacket and in a police officer's uniform. With him is some guy I don't recognize with a buzzcut and an army uniform. Accel doesn't hesitate at all, striding up with his usual lazy smile before I've wiped the dumb look off my face. "Mach! So this is where you ended up."

"Y-yeah, not much, but it pays the bills, you know? And...you're a cop now?"

"Yep, newest officer on the force. I'm aiming for detective eventually. Investigating crime scenes, bringing justice to the citizens...all that stuff."

God, he sounds like he believes it. I keep my smile bright from long practice. "Sounds like you're doing pretty well for yourself. Who's your friend?"

He laughs. "You really don't recognize him? That's great. How do you feel about that, Bolt?"

"Bolt?! Seriously?" I give the guy another look, and now that it's been pointed out I can tell. He's lost the hair, the clothes, and the permanent expression of smug disdain, but it's still Bolt. 

"Please, don't remind me of how I used to be," he says with a clearly uncomfortable expression. He straightens up with military precision and snaps out: "Corporal Sung-hwan Lee, at your service!"

"Uh...should I salute?" I look at Accel for guidance, but he just shrugs.

"Don't worry about it," Bolt says, relaxing again. "We're just here for some snacks."

"Remembered you mentioning this place a couple times back in the old days," Accel says. "Didn't expect to find you here, but it's a nice surprise. Seen anyone else recently?"

"Not really..." I reply. I lost track of everyone after the team broke up and we all went our separate ways. "I did see Stunt a few months back, he looked good. His hair's black again, and he said he was looking into going to university." I almost hadn't recognized him without the bright yellow hair. Guess his mom made him dye it back after she wised up and dragged him out of the team house after a month. Looking back on it, I'm both surprised and a bit horrified she let it go on that long. "We talked about setting me up as a conversational English partner, but his mom's pretty leery about letting him see any of us again." I can't blame her.

Accel nods slowly, like that's what he expected. "I talk to Jett sometimes. She's about to graduate university herself, and it sounds like she has a good job with Enoch lined up already. Mr Kim really liked her, I guess."

I never had any doubts that Jett wouldn't land on her feet, but it's nice to hear anyway. "That's great, I'm glad to hear it!"

"I'd hoped she wouldn't, but there's no stopping her once she sets her mind on something," Bolt sighs.

"She's a strong-willed woman, that's for sure." Accel laughs again. "She'll have her seven stars before you know it."

"Huh? Seven stars?" I don't get it. I'm pretty sure private companies don't give out stars, that's the military. Enoch isn't in the defense business, so what are they talking about?

Accel looks a bit surprised, and Bolt looks uncomfortable. "You...really didn't know? About Enoch?" Accel asks, and I shake my head, mystified. "Well, maybe it's for the best. What you don't know can't hurt you."

The conversation dies out. Accel wanders off to browse the snack isles, though Bolt hangs out by the counter, looking over the array of cheap crap we have to entice impulse purchases. After making sure he's okay, I go back to my hanzi workbook.

"Mach." Bolt's voice breaks through my concentration, dead serious. "I owe you an apology. I was a stuck-up jerk back then, and you got the worst of it. I'm sorry."

Oh lord, I'm no good with this. "Th-thanks, but don't worry about it. I was an idiot back then too. And I mean, you weren't wrong about me. I was a stupid foreigner who flew over here on a whim and was about to give up after a few months of half-assed training. If I hadn't run into Accel I'd have gone back to the States with my tail between my legs."

It's the right thing to say, apparently, because it makes him relax again. I even get the hint of a real smile. "I wasn't wrong, but it was a stupid thing to get worked up about. Going around ranting about foreigners taking our esports away...I thought I was such hot shit. Then I got out in the real world and it turns out none of that really matters."

"So you lost the pride of a pro-gamer?" I tease, but relent when he winces again. I give him a smile instead, the one of fellow idiots who cared too much about a video game and then grew up. "No, no, I know what you're talking about. It sucks you in, but it's just clicking to make fake little men move around. Now I'm trying to pick my life back up after wasting the best part of it destroying my hands." I hold up my hanzi workbook, letting Bolt see what I'm doing. "I'm studying languages now. It's a lot harder and more useful than build orders."

He peers at the book. "Chinese? Good for you. I'm thinking of studying it too, the army could use more people that know Chinese."

"So you're sticking with the military?" I thought it was odd he was still in uniform, since last I heard he'd gone off to do the mandatory service period at the same time as Accel, and I know it only lasts for a year and a half. 

"Yep, he went career," Accel says as he dumps chips and canned coffee on the counter. I start ringing him up as he continues. "We ended up in the same platoon, did you know that? But I had the sense to get out."

So that's why they're hanging out together. Army buddies. "I didn't know that, actually. That was about when my wrist gave out and...I kind of hid in my apartment for a couple weeks. By the time I came out everyone had moved on." I wince in embarrassment at the memory. At the time it had seemed like my life was over. 

Accel and Bolt seem to understand, though. "It's hard, taking an injury like that," Bolt says, with what sounds like genuine sympathy. "Does it still bother you?"

"Nah, not really. Or, well, I can't play video games anymore or do anything that requires moving the mouse a lot, but I get by. Mr Yeon - the owner - he's been teaching me Go instead. That's how I get my game fix these days." I absolutely, bottom of the barrel suck at it, but they don't need to know that. Mr Yeon's Go friends mostly regard me as an amusing curiosity, like someone taught a dog to play, but they're still friendlier than the Starcraft community.

"That reminds me," Accel says. "You heard anything about Reva? She just dropped off the face of the Earth; no one knows what happened to her."

"Nope," I say. "Like I said, I came out of my apartment and everyone was gone." I did hear some kids talking a month or two ago, about rumours that the legendary Reva was seen gold farming in the latest shitty MMO of the month. They couldn't give me any more details when I pressed them about it, and I think I drove them off by being the crazy foreigner at the convenience store. 

I don't want to believe it, though. I mean, I knew Reva better than anyone else on the team. We stuck together, us girls, because we had to. And I know, that despite everything, that Reva had potential. More potential than all the rest of us put together. If Stunt and Bolt can find gainful life after Starcraft, if _I_ can, then I want to believe Reva can too. Maybe she went back to school, started studying any of those useful things she told me about that late night in my apartment so long ago. Maybe she became a musician, a doctor, a scientist. That's what I want to believe.

But wanting something doesn't make it true.

"Mach," Accel says suddenly, looking at me with a quiet intensity I rarely saw from him. "Do you regret it? Becoming a pro gamer?"

I think of 14-hour days of training myself to click on fake spacemen faster than anyone else. I think of eating instant noodles for weeks at a time. I think of sleeping on Reva's foot, of Jett yelling at me for the fiftieth time, of losing contact with all my friends and family back home. I think of nights without sleep and days of physical therapy that amounted to nothing more than a short page on the Starcraft fan wiki.

eSports was a stupid fantasy that ruined my life. I should regret it. Honestly, if I had the chance to meet my former self I wouldn't be able to resist slapping some sense into her thick skull.

But then I think of teaching myself Korean, all on my own. I think of the friends I made, the thrill of victory, and learning to handle defeat with grace. I think of finding Mr Yeon, who gave me a future I'd never have had otherwise. I think of all the experiences I've had in Korea, everything I would've missed by doing the sensible, life-saving thing and staying home.

"I..."

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic was an exercise in balancing between the characters as shown in the VN and their true forms as revealed in [the LP my friends and I did](http://talking-time.net/showthread.php?t=17367). So if you're wondering about Mr Yeon being a spy, Enoch being a front for the Korean mafia, and Accel being a predator you don't want your kids around, that's why.
> 
> Honestly I was probably too nice to Bolt, considering he spends the entire game being a weirdo racist and ends with a batshit rant about the purity of eSports. But, you know, sometimes people just need time to find out what's actually important, i.e not Starcraft.
> 
> Come to think of it, I was probably too nice to Mach too. Ah, I'm a softie...


End file.
